Saul kripke 19801971 the identity thesis excerpt from. If saul kripke exists, then saul kripke is a human being. Hence, before moving on to refinements in characterizing the notion of rigidity, consider a famous application made by saul kripke, who coined the word rigid designator. In january of 1970 saul kripke delivered a series of lectures at princeton university that were transcribed into a book, naming and necessity, published in 1972. In reading naming and necessity, it is clear that saul kripke stands in a similar position. Names, necessity, and identity article pdf available in disputatio 119. Kripkes defense of 3, the necessity of identity, stems from his anticounterpart theory. On a derivation of the necessity of identity saul kripke s lecture identity and necessity 1971 begins with a short discussion of a formal derivation of a law of necessity of identity. Arial times new roman symbol default design saul kripke, identity and necessity an apparent paradox the paradox with proper names identities in science rigid vs. The inconclusiveness of kripkes argument agaimst the identity theory richard double in the widelyread papers naming and necessity1 and identity and necessity,2 saul kripke develops an argument against the mindbody identity theory, relying crucially on the doctrine of the essential painfulness of pains. A response to saul kripke in his book, naming and necessity, the american philosopher saul kripke argues, among other things, that the traditional belief that a priori knowledge must be knowledge of necessary truths and a posteriori knowledge must be knowledge of contingent truths is false. Kripkes basic argument is that there is no such thing as contingent identity. However, a modicum of understanding about that work is needed for any understanding of what is interesting about rigid designators. Nov 21, 2015 in his famous work naming and necessity, saul kripke presents an argument against the materialists identity theory of mind.
Whereas kripke himself only claimed to offer a better picture of names than the cluster theory, almost immediately. He, of course, does not know exactly which block of wood the table is made from but, nevertheless, what if it was made from a different block of wood. Saul kripke, american logician and philosopher who was one of the most powerful and influential thinkers in contemporary analytic anglophone philosophy. The transcript of another lecture covering some of the same material is published under the title identity and. Kripke and the mindbody problem i regard the mindbody problem as wide open and extremely confusing. Naming and necessity by saul kripke that marcus family. Kripkes refutation of identity theory a rigid designator. A great deal of the books brilliance lies in the astonishing simplicity of his solution to some of philosophys most fiendish puzzles and the ease with which he lectures reveals the powerful grasp he has on the issues he describes. This desk pointing at the one in my office was not made out of metal. Christopher hughes offers a careful exposition and critical analysis of kripkes central ideas about names, necessity, and identity, and in the process makes significant contributions to continuing debates about such topics as modality, essence, natural kinds, and. Kripke began with a consideration of the fregean analysis of the meaning of a sentence as a function of the referents of its parts.
Identity and necessity, in identity and individuation, milton k. He defendcd the necessity of identity in on sentence sense. If xy, then, according to kripke, necessarily xy i. Saul kripke argues that any such identity statement where a mental state is said to be identical to a physical state is false based solely on the structure of the statements. Click download or read online button to get saul kripke book now. Thus i will hold off questioning the rigidity of pain until later. Much of the argument depends on conclusions drawn earlier in his work. The transcript of another lecture covering some of the same material is. Kripke if there is such a thing as essential reading in metaphysics or in philosophy of language, this is it. Kripkes main argument for the second thesis is most clearly expounded in his article identity and necessity, and is most easily stated in the idiom of possible worlds. Saul kripke 19801971 the identity thesis excerpt from identity and necessity give a sketch of kripke s argumentation against the identity theory and discuss it.
Reprmred by permtsston of the pubbshers from naming and necessity by saul a. The thesis is best known for its association with saul kripke, who published it in 1971, 2 although it was first derived by the logician ruth barcan marcus in 1947, 3. Scribd is the worlds largest social reading and publishing site. Saul kripke project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Saul kripke, in a series of classic writings of the 1960s and 1970s, changed the face of metaphysics and philosophy of language. The inconclusiveness of kripke s argument agaimst the identity theory richard double in the widelyread papers naming and necessity 1 and identity and necessity,2 saul kripke develops an argument against the mindbody identity theory, relying crucially on the doctrine of the essential painfulness of pains.
Kripkes naming and necessity who shaves the barber. Much of the argument depends on conclusions drawn earlier in. This seminal work, to which todays thriving essentialist metaphysics largely owes its impetus, is here reissued in a newly corrected form with a new preface. For example, marcus argued that names are directly referential and are not equivalent to. The discussion here brings to bear many of the results from earlier in the book, including rigid designation, the necessity of identity, the possibility of necessary a posteriori truths, and. Other articles where naming and necessity is discussed. The transcript was brought out originally in 1972 in semantics of natural language, edited by donald davidson and. Names, necessity, and identity, by christopher hughes. It redirected philosophical attention to neglected questions of natural and metaphysical necessity and to the connections between these and theories of naming, and of identity. It redirected philosophical attention to neglected questions of natural and metaphysical necessity and to the connections between these and theories of. The derivation has become rather well known, but perhaps not so well understood.
Since the 1960s kripke has been a central figure in a number of fields related to mathematical logic, philosophy of language, philosophy of. Starting from this simple problem, saul kripkes 1980 book naming and necessity covers the history of theories of naming before proposing a radically new. Saul kripke is one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century. Word sense and difference of word sense, in d steinberg. Sep 19, 2017 starting from this simple problem, saul kripke s 1980 book naming and necessity covers the history of theories of naming before proposing a radically new theory. Identity and necessity saul kripke free download as pdf file. This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. In this paper, presented at an apa colloquium in boston on december 28, 1994, it is argued that ruth barcan marcus 1961 article on modalities and intensional languages originated many of the key ideas of the new theory of reference that have often been attributed to saul kripke and others. In naming and necessity, kripke introduces the notion of rigid designators as a response to the debate in the philosophy of language concerning the reference of names.
Naming and necessity has had a great and increasing influence. His argument shows that any statement that strictly equates mental events with physical events will be false. Naming and necessity is a 1980 book with the transcript of three lectures, given by the philosopher saul kripke, at princeton university in 1970, in which he dealt with the debates of proper names in the philosophy of language. Kripke cambridge, mass harvard university press, 1972, 1980 by saul a. Kripke on the distinctness of the mind from the body je. In modal logic, the necessity of identity is the thesis that for every object x and object y, if x and y are the same object, it is necessary that x and y are the same object. A great deal of the books brilliance lies in the astonishing simplicity of his solution to some of philosophys most fiendish puzzles and the ease with which he lectures reveals the powerful grasp he. He made important contributions to several areas of philosophy, including logic, metaphysics, philosophy of language, epistemology, and philosophy of mind.
It provided the first cogent account of necessity and possibility as metaphysical concepts, and it. The present commentary attempts to improve understanding of it by. Ever since the publication of its original version, naming and necessity has had great and increasing influence. In the lectures kripke is responding to previous attempts to solve certain problems in the.
In his famous work naming and necessity, saul kripke presents an argument against the materialists identity theory of mind. Naming and necessity 193 we want a common term to cover names and descriptions, we may use the term designator. Giving the semantic content this is one facet of a fregean sense. Why there are no necessary a posteriori propositions. Kripkes most important philosophical publication, naming and necessity 1980, based on transcripts of three lectures he delivered at princeton in 1970, changed the course of analytic philosophy. Marcus, kripke, and the origin of the new theory of. Kripke distinguished professor in the programs of philosophy and computer science saul kripke center cuny graduate center 365 fifth avenue new york, ny 100164309. The transcript was brought out originally in 1972 in semantics of natural language, edited by donald davidson and gilbert harman.
A sense is supposed to be that which is grasped by the mind, a meaning in some nontechnical sense. Christopher hughes offers a careful exposition and critical analysis of kripke s central ideas about names, necessity, and identity, and in the process makes significant contributions to continuing debates about such topics as modality, essence, natural kinds, and. If there is such a thing as essential reading in metaphysics or in philosophy of language, this is it. Kripke on epistemic usc dana and david dornsife college. It redirected philosophical attention to neglected questions of natural and metaphysical necessity and to the connections between these and theories of reference, in particular of. Kripkes first, and most compelling route to the necessary aposteriori is illustrated by 14.
It seems to kripke that if even if he made a second table from a different block of wood, and it was totally indistinguishable. He is currently mccosh professor of philosophy, emeritus, at princeton university and teaches as a distinguished professor of philosophy at the cuny graduate center. References in brackets in the text are to page numbers of that book. In this terminology a rigid designator is defined as one that designates the same thing in all possible worlds in which it designates. Feb 17, 2011 saul kripke argues that any such identity statement where a mental state is said to be identical to a physical state is false based solely on the structure of the statements. Kripke takes it for granted that both pain and cfiber stimulation are rigid. Rigid designators stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Kripke, in his 1971 essay, identity and necessity reprinted 2011, in kripke, philosophical troubles, collected papers, volume 1, argues on grounds of leibnizian indiscernibility of identicals that identity relations are necessary. David wiggins recanted the defence of contingent identity in identity and spatio temporal continuity oxford. On a derivation of the necessity of identity saul kripkes lecture identity and necessity 1971 begins with a short discussion of a formal derivation of a law of necessity of identity.
Though its not, i think, entirely obvious that pain is rigid, kripkes claim to the contrary is not unreasonable. Kripke distinguished professor in the programs of philosophy and computer science saul kripke center cuny graduate center 365 fifth avenue new york, ny 100164309 office. Time and development in kripkes naming and necessity. I will explain kripkes framework which includes possible worlds, rigid designators, and essential properties.
Identity sentences and the necessary a posteriori 97105 7 4. Here the latter must be given primary emphasis, but the former will not be entirely neglected. A prioricity and qualitatively identical situations 4. Saul kripke 19801971 the identity thesis excerpt from identity and necessity give a sketch of kripkes argumentation against the identity theory and discuss it. There we saw that we could give the following test for the rigidity of a term. Kripke claims that i and ii are selfevident theses of philosophical logic independent of natural language. The modal argument 4849, 7177 in lecture i, kripke introduced the notion of rigid designation. Kripke, naming and necessity in harman and davidson, eds. That identity statements between what we call names in actual language are necessary. Saul kripke, in full saul aaron kripke, born november, 1940, bay shore, long island, new york, u. Kripke speaks here explicitly of the modality of identity statements, that are the linguistic expression of a metaphysical qualification. Kripke on the distinctness of the mind from the body. It is about how things might or must have been had things g one differentl y with. Kripke gives the example of the wooden table he is writing on.
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